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Movies Pick: Red Letter Play

“Clueless” launched the trend of updated teen versions of literary classics, which continues with “Easy A,” Will Gluck’s adaptation of “The Scarlet Letter” to life in and around a California high school. Emma Stone stars as Olive, a smart but unpopular girl who invents stories about her (nonexistent) sex life and then gets what used to be called a reputation. The resulting turmoil is aided by a splendid cast that includes Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Thomas Haden Church, and Amanda Bynes. The satire focusses on religious hypocrisy, but, as Richard Brody wrote, “it’s refracted into strange and uneasy territory by the wavering play of identities, as teen-agers try on, with naïve charm, the masks that become, for adults, second nature.”

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